Refrigerating apparatus



Jan. 14, 1941. D. H. REEVES REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 19, 1957 3 Sheets-Shea?l 1 INVENTOR.

HIS ATTORNEYS.

Jan., 14? 1941. D, H, REEVES REFRIGERATING APPARATS Filed Aug. 19, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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"ff/s ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 114-, 1941.

D. H. REEVES 2,228,928

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 19', 1937 z sheets-sheet s :g l F M w j w N "s :d u.. "u

"Wi/zzm 3g INVENTOR. .Dan/uo 'P4-aras.,

BY W MM 4,224

// ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 14, 1941 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,228,923 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS poration of Delaware Application August 19, 1937, Serial No. 159,936

11 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigeration and particularly lto freezing devices employed Vin household refrigerators. i

An object of my invention is to provide an improved metallic freezing unit for refrigerators whereby iceblocks can be readily removed therefrom without applying artificial heat thereto.

Another object of my invention is to provide an ice tray unit with a single manually actuated u means which when operated will separate the unit from its freezing support in or ona cooling element of a refrigerating system, will elevate a removable gridstructure disposed in the tray together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to the tray and will also break ice blocks loose from the grid structure to thereby facilitate the harvesting of ice blocks from the unit.

Anotherpbject of my inventionis to provide a freezing unit comprising a tray and a grid structure removably positioned in the tray with a handle movable in a single direction of motion for removing the unit `from its freezing support Yand elevating the grid structure relative to the tray and for also releasing ice blocks from the grid structure.

ln carrying out the foregoing objects, it is a still further and more specific object of my invention to provide an improved freezing unit comprising a tray and a grid structure removably positioned in the tray, which grid structure 'includes a plurality of ice compartment forming walls that are movable relative to one anotherand one of which walls extends over an edge of the tray with a single means preferably movable in a single direction of motion for successively removing the unit from its support, for elevating the grid relative to the tray and for moving certain walls of the grid structure relative to other Walls `thereof to release ice blocks from the ice compartn'ients.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

lin the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a freezing unit constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the unit disclosed in Fig. l and taken on the line 2--2 thereof showing Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the the unit in a normal supported position on a` (Cl. (i2-108.5)

unit and ice frozen therein elevated relative to its freezing support;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Figs. 2 and 3 showing the grid structure and ice adhering thereto elevated relative to the tray of the unit;

Fig. 5 is a front end view of the freezing unit;

Fig. 6 is a view disclosing certain walls of the grid structure disposed within the tray of the unit moved relative to other walls thereof 'for releasing ice blocks therefrom; 10

Fig. '7 is a sectional view taken on the line 'l-1 of Fig. 2 showing the locking arrangement of the movable portions of the longitudinal grid wall with the rear end transverse grid wall; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional View taken on the line 8-B 15 of Fig. 2 showing the arrangement of locking other walls of the grid together;

Referring to the drawings, for the purpose of illustrating my invention', 1 have disclosed therein a metal ice tray I0 having side walls I I, a bot- 20 tom wall I2 and opposed end walls I3 and I4. The tray side walls I I and the rear wall I4 thereof converge outwardly toward the top of the tray. The tray front wall I3 is converged outwardly toward the top of the tray a greater distance 25 than other walls thereof for a purpose which will become apparent hereinafter. The Walls II, I3 and I4 of tray Il] have their upper portion rolled over, as at I5, to provide a rim around the top of the tray `to stiffen same. A portion of the 30 metal of tray IIJ at the front thereof is extended downwardly from rim I5, as at I6, to provide a mounting for a heavy metal piece I1 secured thereto by screws I8. The metal piece I1 has a pair of rounded ears orlbearings I9 formed 35 thereon which receive holes provided in the legs 2l of a handle member, generally represented by the reference character 22, to pivotally secure the handle member 22 to the tray IIJ. This handle member 22 has a three-fold purpose and therefore forms a single means for carrying out three functions in accordance with the objects of the present invention. In addition to the handle portion 23 of handle member 22, this member includes a cam surface 24 formed along the lower 45 edge of its legs 2l. Member 22 also includes an integral cross part 25 which is normally disposed between the handle portion 23 thereof and the front of tray I0. The handle portion 23 of handle member 22 has a finger 26 depending therefrom 50 at the center thereof. The various portions of the handle member 22 and their construction and arrangement will become apparent in the course of the description of thev operation of the device diseased. 55

A unitary .metallic grid structure, generally represented by :the reference character 30, is removably disposed within tray I and divides the interior of the tray into a plurality of rows 5 of open-top molds, cells or compartments 3I This grid structure may be of any suitable construction but is preferably constructed somewhat in accordance with the structure disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 129,443,

led March 6, 1937, now matured into Patent No, 2,196,476. The grid 30 comprises a longitudinal wall constructed of two rigid metal parts 32 and 33 disposed one above the other in substantially the same vertical plane. These parts 16 32 and 33 of the longitudinal wall are movable relative to one another andare locked between a plurality of spaced apart transverse walls 34. 'Ihe manner of assembling the walls of grid 30 to one another and of locking same together to 20 form a unitary structure is fully described in my copending application above referred to and for this reason will not be herein described in detail. It will be noted that the parts 32 and 33 of the longitudinal grid wall are movable relative to one another and that by moving these parts the transverse walls 34 are moved or tilted, relative to the longitudinal wall.4 It is also to be noted that the transverse grid walls 34 are normally disposed at an acute angle relative to 39 a line extended perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the grid structure and thereby provide the ice block compartments 3I with a parallelogram form. Movement of .the transverse walls 34 out of their acute normal angled disposition into a substantially vertical position breaks the ice blocks loose from the grid structure and enlarges the compartments l3l as fully described in my copending application above referred to.

In the present disclosure, a portion of the upper part 32 of the two-part longitudinal grid w`all, adjacent the sliding front end connection 35 of the two parts 32 and 33, is extended over the top edge or rim I5 of tray I0 at the front end of the tray, as at 35, and is then directed downwardlyfas at 31, to form a finger. The downwardly directed finger portion 31 of the grid structure is normally disposed between the cross part 25 and inger 26 of the handle member 22.

A part of the lower edge of the extended portion 36 of grid wall 32 is shaped to providea camming surface 38 adapted to cooperatey with and be engaged by the cross part 25 on th`e handle memare, during freezing of water thereon, normally l disposed in the position illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings wherein I have disclosed a support 39 which represents a freezing shelf or the .60 like of a cooling element or unit of a refrigerating system such as is usually provided in a cool--l ing element or unit of a 4household refrigerating apparatus.

Assume that water has been frozen in tray I0 of the freezing unit in the form of blocks 40 in compartments 3I by the cooling effect produced by the freezing support 33 oi a cooling element, and it is nowdesirable to remove the unit from its support and to remove the ice blocks from the 0 unit. 'Ihe handle portion 23 of handle member 22 is grasped by /the hand and moved downwardly and outwardly away from tray I0 about its pivotal mountings I9. This initial movement of handle member 22 causes the cams 24 to exert 'l5 a force against the unit's support 39 to thereby elevate the freezing unit, including tray I0, grid 30 and ice blocks 40 containedtherein, relative to its support on the cooling unit or element. This initial movement of handle member 22, to elevate the freezing unit relative to its support 39, causes the cross part 25 of the handle member to move toward the cam surface 38 provided on the nger portion of the upper grid wall part 32 of grid structure 30 as is illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The ice bond between the l freezing unit and its support 39 having now been,l broken, further movement of the handle member 22 about its pivotal mountings I9 in the same direction of motion will cause the cross part 25 thereof to slide against the cam surface 38 l formed on the finger portion of the grid wall part 32. The sliding engagement of cross part 25 of 'handle member 22 with the camming surface 38 applies force to the grid structure 30 and elevates same together with ice blocks 40 adher- 2 ing thereto relative to the tray I 0 of the unit. This further movement of handle member 22 to elevate the grid and ice blocks relative to the tray is Illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings and it will be-noted that this force applied to the 2i grid structure 30 has not as yet caused movement of the movable grid walls relative to one another therefore necessitating an additional vmovement of the handle member 22 in its same direction of motion to move the grid walls and 30 release ice blocks from compartments 3|. Therefore, an additional downward movement of the handle member 22 about its pivotal mountings I9 causes the cross part 25 thereof to apply force, in a direction outwardly of the front end 35 of tray I0, upon the finger portion 31 of the grid wall part 32. This outward force applied to the upper longitudinal grid wall part 32, while the lower longitudinal gridwall part 33 is abutting the front end wall I3 of tray I0, moves the Wall 40 part 32 lengthwise of` the wall part 33. The lengthwise sliding movement of the longitudinal wall upper part 32 relative to the longitudinal wall lower part 33 causes movement or tilting of the transverse walls 34 of grid 30, within the 45 slots provided in the two parts of the longitudinal wall, out of their normal acute angled disposition into substantially a vertical position to break the ice cubes 40 loose from the grid structure and to enlarge the ice compartments 3l and permit 50 the ice blocks to fall out of same as is illustrated in Fig, 6 of the drawings. This movement or tilting of the transverse walls 34 of grid structure 30 is preferably progressive from one end to the other end of tray I 0 to facilitate-the breaking 5 of ice blocks from the grid as fully described in my copending application hereinbefore referred to. 'Ihe grid 30 may then be removed from tray I0 to facilitate removal of the ice blocks from the tray; When the grid 30 is replaced in 6 tray I 0 the finger portion 31 thereof is again positioned between the cross part 25 and handle portion 23 of the handle member 22, and the nger 26 formed on member 22 engages the grid finger 31 to position the grid in its normal posi- 65 tion with the. transverse walls 34 thereof disposed at an acute angle to form the parallelogram-shaped ice block compartments 3|. The engagement of cams 24 on handle member 22 with the support 39, as shown inFig. 2 of they drawings, holds the finger 26 against nger 31 to thereby maintain the grid structure 30 in its normal freezing position.

While I--have described one -form of grid structure disposed in the tray of my improved freezing uni-t, it is to be understood that other forms of grid structures may be used without departing from the spirit of the present` invention. For example, a means for moving certain walls of a grid structure relative to other walls thereof, wlfiich is not essentially a part of the ice bioclr compartment walls such as I have disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 93,213, filed August 27, 1936, may be employed. In this latter case the bar member extending longitudinally over the grid structure would be projected over the front edge of the tray and would be operatively associated with a handle member substantially of the type herein disclosed. It is also to be understood that, while l have disclosed a certain form of handle member operable in a single direction of motion for performing three diii'erent functions,` other forms coming within the realm of my invention may be employed. The tray and grid structure disclosed is preferably treated or coated with a Water repellent material to reduce the bond between ice blocks and the tray and grid structure to thereby facilitate operations of the handle as described.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I 'have provided an improved freezing unit for use in household refrigerators and that the unit comprises a single means operable in a single direction of motion for breaking an ice bond between the unit and its support on a cooling element, for elevating the grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to the tray of the unit and for also breaking ice blocks loose from the grid structure to permit harvesting of the blocks from the unit. The provision of a single means for carrying out the three ice bond breaking operations described and illustrated with a minimum of force greatly simpliiies the harvesting of ice blocks from a refrigerator and overcomes objections to prior devices wherein utmost effort is required in operating several different mechanisms to carry out the operations performed by the single means in the present invention. My improved freezing unit is constructed entirely of meta-l to thereby retain the fast freezing characteristics of metal grid and tray combinations.

le the form of embodiment'of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred fo, it is to be understood that other forms might he adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

i. it freezing unit adapted to be placed in oren a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigeratng system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, `said grid structure including a piuraiity of walls dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, certain of said grid walls being movable relative to other walls thereof, and a single means associated with said unit and movable relative thereto for elevating the unit relative to its support 'and for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to saidtray and for also moving said certain grid walls relative to said other walls thereof to release ice blocks from the grid structure.

2. A freezing unit adapted to be placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination,

a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, said grid structure including a plurality of walls dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, certain of said grid walls being movable relative to other `walls thereof, and means associated with said unit and movable relative thereto in a single direction of motion for elevating the unit relative to its support and for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray and for also moving said certain grid walls relative to said other walls thereof to release ice blocks from the grid structure. Y

3. A freezing unitv adapted to be placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, said grid structure including a plurality of walls dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, certain of said grid walls being movable relative to other Walls thereof, a handle carried by said tray and movable relative thereto, said handle having a portion thereof adapted to engage said unit support and elevate the unit relative to its support, said handle having another portion adapted to engage a portion of said grid structure and elevate the grid together with -ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray, and said another portion of said handle being adapted to move said certain walls of said grid structure relative to other walls thereof to release ice blocks therefrom.

4. A freezing unit adapted to be placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combina tion, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, said grid structure including a plurality of walls dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, certain of said grid walls being movable relative to other walls thereof, a handle pivotally mounted upon said tray and movable in a single direction of motion about its pivot relative to said tray, said handle having a cam formed thereon adapted upon initial movement of the handle in said single direction of motion to engage said unit` support and elevate the unit relative to its support, said handle having a portion formed integral therewith in spaced relation to said cam adapted upon further movement of the handle in said single direction of motion to engage a portion of said grid structure and elevate the grid together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray, and said last named portion of said handle being adapted upon stili fur ther movement of the handle in said single direction of motion to move said certain walls of said grid structure relative to other walls thereof to release ice blocks. therefrom.'

5. A freezing unit 4adapted to be piaceri in or on a freezing lsupport of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, said grid struct-ure including a twopart longitudinal wall and a plurality of transverse walls dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of rows of ice .block compartments, said par-ts of said two-part longitudinal wall being movable relative to one another and being constructed and arranged t-o cause movement of said transverse walls, one part of said two-part longitudinal w-all having a portion thereof projected over an edge of said tray and extending outwardly from said tray edge, and a single means adapted .to elevate said unit relative to its support 'and having a portion thereof adapted to engage said projecting portion of said twopart longitudinal grid wall for elevating 'the grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray and for moving said one part of said two-part longitudinal grid wall relative to the other part thereof to move said transverse grid walls and release ice blocks from the grid structure.

6. A rfreezing unit adapted to Ibe placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray, said grid structure including a twopart longitudinal wall and a plurality of transverse walls dividing the interior iof said tray into a plurality of rows of ice block compartments, said parts of said two-part longitudinal wall being movable relative to one another and being constructed and arranged to cause movement of said transverse walls, one part of said two-part longitudinal wall having a portion thereof projected over an edge of said tray and extending outwardly from said tray edge, and manually actuated means carried by said unit and movable in a single direction of motion for elevating said unit relaitive to its support and having a portion thereof adapted to engage said projecting portion of said two-part longitudinal grid Wall for elevating the grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said 'tray and for moving said one part of said two-part longitudinal grid wall relative to the other part thereof to move said transverse grid walls and release ice blocks from the grid structure.

'7. A freezing unit adapted to 4be placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray to divide Ithe interior thereof into a plurality of ice block compartments, and a single means associated with said unit and movable relative thereto for elevating the 'unit rela/tive to i-ts support and for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto ,relative 'to said tray and for also releasing ice blocks fromthe ice compartments of said grid structure after same has been elevated relative to the tray. 4

8. lA. freezing unit adapted to be placed in or on a freezing support of a cooling element of a refrigerating system comprising in combination, a tray, a grid structure removably disposed in said tray to divide the interior .thereof into a pluralityiof ice block compartments, and manually actuated means carried fby said tray and movable in a single direction of motion for elevating .the unit relative to its support and for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray and for also releasing ice blocks from the ice compartments of said grid structure after same has been elevated relative to the tray.

9. The combination, with a cooling unit of a refrigerating system, of a 'freezing unit removably supported on the cooling unit, said freezing unit including a tray and a grid structure disposed in the tray for dividing the interior thereof into a plurali-ty of ice block compartments and being movable relative to the tray, said grid structure having a plurality of walls certain of which are movable relative to certain others thereof, and a single means movably mounted on one of said units for causing relative movement between s aid freezing unit and its support on said cooling unit and for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray and for also moving said movable grid walls relative to said other walls thereof after said grid structure has been ele-l vated relative to the .tray |t-o release ice blocks from said ice compartments.

10. A freezing unit adapted to he removably supported on a. cooling unit, said freezing uni-t comprising a tray and a unitary grid structure removably disposed in the tray, said grld structure including a Itwo-part longitudinal wall and a plurality of spaced apart walls interlocked therewith and extending transversely thereof for dividing the interior of said tray into a plurality of ice fblock forming compartments, said parts of said two-part longitudinal grid wall being movable relative to one another and being constructed and arranged to cause movement of said transverse grid walls, a single means movably mounted upon one of said units for causing relative movement between said freezing funit and its support'on the cooling unit, and said single means having a portion thereof engageable with one part oi said two-part longitudinal grid wall for moving said parts relative toone another to cause said movement of said transverse grid walls for breaking the ice :bond between ice blocks and said grid and tray.

11. A device constructed in accordance with the terms of claim wherein the transverse grid walls are norma-lly'inclined with respect to the vertical and are tilted in a direction toward the vertical to enlarge the ice block compartments.

DONALD H. REEVES. 

